Sportsgirl Launches Its New Inclusive Collection

Sportsgirl Launches Its New Inclusive Collection

- AUG 08, 2018 WEDNESDAY

On August 6th Sportsgirl dropped an inclusive and inspiring campaign for its new collection.

The campaign slogan #BETHATGIRL focuses on celebrating the differences between us. It highlights young women from different ethnicities, professions, sexual orientations and gender identifications with varying personalities and moods:

12 Australians have been chosen to star in the campaign. Among them are Paraolympian Joany Badenhorst, MTV presenter, DJ and writer Flex Mami, Indigenous Australian youth activist Aretha Brown and transgender model Manahou Mackay.

Each of these talented women exhibit their individuality throughout the campaign.

JOANY

“When I was 11 years old I was involved in a freak accident and my left leg was ripped off. Living in a rural area as a young female amputee, I struggled fitting in, faced bullying and struggled with finding my place and my role in society. I was constantly looked at and stared at and I hated being the centre of attention for something I thought was so negative.”

“I then decided that if people were going to stare, it would be because of something I was proud of. So I worked hard at being the best sports person I knew, so that when people spoke about me it wasn’t because I was legless, but because of my achievements and through that I learnt to love everything that caught attention and made me different.”

ARETHA

“Racism comes in many venomous forms. Racism that I experience is not as blatant or visible as the open racism my elders faced, but it exists in its own form.”

“It’s subtle and quiet and it’s a type that you might not even recognise as being openly disrespectful. Names, Titles, Prefixes, Assumptions. And rather it’s the violence in the lack of discussion that is just as painful.”

MANAHOU

“The first time I ever wore a dress I was eight years old. I went out with a friend to an event and my aunty was there, she called my parents saying ‘Your son is here in a dress!’. They were weird about it for a while but they got over it.”

“Most people have never had experience with transgender people so they don’t know how to react. But once you talk them through it and open up to them about it they become really cool. How do you expect people to grow to accept you if you’re not open about who you are?”

“Be yourself and know that that is good enough.”

CAITLYN

“There are many things I have overcome and there are still things I am going through. In modelling something I used to struggle with a lot is comparison, especially at castings. We are all stuck in this trap of comparing ourselves to one another, instead of appreciating who we are as unique, beautiful and different in our own way.”

The campaign signals a necessary move toward embracing difference and empowering individuals who are non-conformist and unique.

To check out the full bios of the 12 Australians featured in Sportsgirl’s campaign click here.